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The Jacksonville University Music Department is proud to present the First Coast Wind Ensemble in concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in Terry Concert Hall on the campus at 2800 University Blvd. N. The concert is free to the public.
This event is the opening concert of the 24th season of the First Coast Wind Ensemble, a 60-member community music organization led by conductor Artie Clifton, a member of the JU music faculty. The group provides a cultural service to the Jacksonville community by offering free concerts of quality wind music.
The program will feature guest soprano soloist Kimberly Beasley, singing classics from the opera, theatre and concert stage. Kimberly is Assistant Professor of Voice at JU. She holds degrees from the University of Colorado, Valparaiso University and a Certificate of Vocal Performance from Northwestern University in Chicago, where she studied with Sunny Joy Langton and coached with Sherrill Milnes.
Singing in all styles, Kimberly has performed with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Northwest Festival Orchestra in Chicago, Southwest Michigan Symphony, Elmhurst Symphony, the Northwest Indiana Symphony, DuPage Opera Theatre, the New Philharmonic Orchestra, Light Opera Works, Music at Main, Friday Musicale, and the Grant Park Symphony Chorus and the Lyric Opera of Chicago Chorus at venues such as the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts in Jacksonville, the Star Plaza in Indiana, Chicago’s Millennium Park, and the Civic Opera House in Chicago. Roles include Solvieg, Micaëla, Dorine, Serpina, Rosina, Cinderella, Angelica, Josephine, and Ciao-ciao San in productions of Cavalleria Rusticana, Fidelio, Turandot, Peer Gynt, Into the Woods, Suor Angelica, Barber of Seville, Tartuffe, H.M.S. Pinafore, Carmen, and Madama Butterfly. She is also an avid recitalist, performing all over Jacksonville as well as in concerts and recitals from Chicago to Colorado. Kimberly also serves as a stage and music director for musicals and operas. She was the music director, to critical acclaim, of Last Five Years for OneTheatre in Chicago, and in 2011 stage-directed Little Women, the Musical for Jacksonville University, which won awards for Best Actor and Best Lighting Design from Broadway World.
The concert finale will feature the combined forces of the First Coast Wind Ensemble and the Jacksonville University Wind Ensemble in a powerful performance of selections from Gustav Holst’s popular masterpiece “The Planets.” Selections include Uranus: The Magician, Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity and Mars: The Bringer of War.
The First Coast Wind Ensemble has released two recent albums to wide acclaim, A Christmas Celebration and Symphonic Spirit, and a DVD titled Sounds of the First Coast. The group is a member of the Cultural Council of Jacksonville. More information is at www.fcwe.org.
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Holst: “The Planets”
Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
JU Terry Concert Hall
Free Admission